Shock Labour party leadership poll gives lead to Ed Miliband

The war of the Milibands, as they vie for the Labour leadership, could end in victory for the younger brother by a handful of votes

Ed Miliband is the surprise frontrunner for the leadership of the Labour Party (Chris Radburn)
David Miliband's seemingly smooth progress to the Labour party leadership was
thrown into doubt last night when his brother Ed emerged as the frontrunner
in a new poll.

It shows that the war of the Milibands could end in victory for the younger
brother by just a handful of votes.

The YouGov survey of Labour party members and trade unionists for The Sunday
Times gives the former climate change secretary a small lead over his older
sibling, who has been considered the favourite throughout the four-month
leadership campaign.

Taking into account second preference votes, it puts Ed Miliband on 51%, with
David on 49%.

David Miliband’s supporters have been privately confident of victory for some
weeks. The former foreign secretary is regarded as the Establishment choice,
with broad backing across the party from Tony Blair to Dennis Skinner, the
veteran leftwinger.